


Screw Friends

by Lola12345



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Hurt, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, second family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:22:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23759794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lola12345/pseuds/Lola12345
Summary: The "hot tub"-scene just that John B turns up to find them and realizes that his best friend was falling apart while he was off with Sarah having a good time.
Relationships: JJ & John B. Routledge, JJ (Outer Banks) & Everyone
Comments: 3
Kudos: 156





	Screw Friends

John B was making his way home – his old home, still on a high from the time he had just spend with Sarah at the abandoned church.  
He had to pick something up at the “Chateau” before going back to his new place. He still had trouble wrapping his head around the whole thing.  
But Sarah's dad did save him from Forster care so for now he was just grateful.  
On the way there, he was pretty much whistling to himself and he was sure if any of his friends saw him now they would tease him for his big smile which did not come of his face.  
But once he got close to the “Chateau”, reality came crashing through the door again.  
He was more than shocked to find his garden filled with fairy lights and a hot tub to be sitting in the middle.  
But that was not the most shocking about the whole situation. That was something completely different, which came in form of three people.  
His best friends to be exact. And normally there would not be anything shocking about them being here. In the last nine months they had kind of all moved in together.  
But he did not expect to find them in a tight three-way hug in said strange hot tub.  
And then he heard the sounds.  
JJ's sobs there filling the air.  
With his breath catching short, he had to realize that the other two were holding his best friend, who was falling apart in their arms.  
Without a care for anything else he rushed forward and climbed in beside the others to put his arms around JJ and the other two.  
He felt JJ shake against him, being wrecked by his tears.  
In all honesty, he should have seen this coming. JJ never really showed his emotions open but in the past weeks his behavior had changed more and more.  
But John B had been so sucked up in all his own dramas that although he had seen the change in his best friend, he had kind of just let it happen.

Afterwards no one could have said, how much time they had stayed in the position.  
At some point then they all started shivering from the cold, they hesitantly let go and scrambled out of the tub.  
They did not really speak any words, there was no need.  
It was a silent agreement between them that none of them would be going anywhere tonight.  
An angry feeling sprang to John B's chest once he properly got a look at JJ's body.  
Of course he knew about the abusive nature of his best friend's father and he had seen millions marks and bruises on his body.  
And although he had learned to kind of ignore them, because it seemed to be easier for JJ to cope that way, he never really got used to it. He never would.  
And sure, sometimes all the boys turned up with similar bruises after especially bad fights with the Kooks, but this was different.  
This was goddamn JJ's father, the only biological family he had left, who was causing all this harm on the other boy.  
And his own father also definitely did not win the award for “best father” but he never could imagine him hitting him or hurting him in any other way.  
John B shook his head. For the moment he had to ban all thoughts about his father and be there for his friend.  
He quickly send a message to Sarah and another to Ward to cancel their fishing trip and then pulled his now dressed friend to the bed.  
Then they were a lot younger, the two of them sometimes shared their bed when things had gotten really bad for JJ or John B missed his mom.  
But that had been a long time ago.  
Part of growing up seemed to be that some battles you have to fight on your own.  
But now all four of them squeezed onto the mattress. Seeing their sizes it definitely should not have worked out but somehow it did.  
They had been best friend's for so long now that personal space could be pushed aside for a night.  
And so JJ found himself half-laying on top of John B with Pope pressed against his back and Kie's one arm slung around his wrist and her other hand holding his.  
He was still way too drunk, his mind foggy with all the tears he cried.  
Everything still hurt way too much, ugly thoughts and memories scratching their own bruises on his insides.  
But he did not feel like he was falling apart as much anymore and for the moment that was all that mattered. 

In the end, this was his real family.

**Author's Note:**

> Things might have turned out a bit better for all of them, if this had actually happened...


End file.
